


Full Dive

by MelodicAscent



Series: Kidge Week 2018 [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Crossover, Don't hate me for this, F/M, I know it won't be canon but I can dream, Kidge Week 2018, Lotor sucks and won't be appearing for reasons, Matt is a good brother, Rarepair, Virtual Reality, how does tagging work, shiro is space dad, video games - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-04-25 07:56:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14374341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodicAscent/pseuds/MelodicAscent
Summary: Aliens are far more advanced than humans in every way. It's only natural that they'd have advanced forms of gaming, right? Keith and Pidge find themselves with an amazing opportunity: Full Dive Virtual Reality gaming. But all is not well in the world of Soleas. And what appears to be a revolutionary way to game turns out to be much worse.





	1. A New Way to Play

**Author's Note:**

> Kidge week 2018 prompt 5: Games
> 
> So, I was originally going to have Pidge teach Keith how to play video games, but I noticed that other people got to that idea before me. So I decided to take things farther: Pidge and Keith going into the games. I then sort of decided to make it a crossover, since I use the same ideas, but I don’t and won’t use any SAO characters, nor will I follow the exact same plotline. But I have a feeling that this is gonna be my next big multi-chapter fic.

“I win again. Pay up, Kogane.”

Keith groaned and handed Pidge the candy bar. One of Keith’s fellow blades hailed from a planet that created a candy that was so similar to chocolate, Keith could have sworn that the bar he handed to Pidge was a Twix, just with a different name. Once he’d told the paladins about it, they’d made sure to stock up on the familiar treats.

And that’s what they used to gamble when it came to playing video games.

Keith had picked up gaming shockingly fast, which was why he often competed against Pidge. Ever since they got that first game system, they’d found ways to get others. Currently, they were playing Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64.

Pidge munched happily on the candy bar as the victory music played.

“I’m confused. The point of this game is to…fight each other?”

Keith and Pidge turned around to see Allura standing in the doorway, a confused expression on her face. “It seems rather violent, if you ask me.”

“We don’t really have any games where two players can work together. I mean, they exist, we just don’t have them.” Pidge shrugged, taking another bite of the candy.

“What about that ‘Fantasy Quest’ game I keep hearing about?”

“Fantasy…Quest?” Keith asked, confused.

“It seems to be common among the Olkari people. Though I’m afraid it’s unlikely to work with your Earth equipment.”

Keith and Pidge looked at each other. “They have video games here?” They asked in unison.

In minutes, the duo was in the streets, looking around for a place they could get more information about Fantasy Quest.

“That looks like a game store,” Pidge said, pointing to a place across the street.

As they walked towards the shop, Keith asked aloud, “Don’t you think Lance would have liked to be here for this?”

Pidge shrugged. “He seems pretty busy with his new girlfriend. If he came, he probably would have brought her with him, and those two being together just makes me gag. They’re so…”

“Disgustingly sweet?”

“Exactly.” Pidge decided to leave out the fact that she felt a little lonely whenever she saw other couples, because she’d accepted years before that she’d be single for life.

Boys don’t like nerds. They especially don’t like girls that are both smarter than them and way shorter than them. She’d never even been on a date, much less had a boyfriend. She’d just resigned herself to the fact that being a genius came with a price.

“Don’t like being a third wheel either, huh?” Keith asked as he pushed the door open.

Pidge would have responded if her jaw hadn’t dropped.

The store was huge, filled with games in a writing that Pidge didn’t recognize. But what stood out most were the systems.

Throughout the store were a variety of different VR headsets in varying prices and quality. The posters on the wall showed people lying in bed with the headset on, dream bubbles showing that the people were inside of a game.

“This…this is…full dive virtual reality.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”

“Essentially, you put on the headset and lie down. Your body is put into a sleep-like state while you are basically put into the game. The headset connects with your mind, so it interprets actions such as movement and speech. It’s like you’re living a game.”

Keith’s eyes widened. “You mean…we can be part of the game?”

Pidge grinned, then it faded. “I mean, we could, but I doubt we can afford anything he-“

The shopkeeper laughed. “You kids are Voltron paladins! You’re heroes! I’ll give you two copies of Fantasy Quest, a brand new game that just released TODAY, and the two headsets you’ll need, absolutely free.”

Pidge and Keith both attempted to argue, but the shopkeeper had already bagged the items and thrown them into Keith’s arms. “Happy gaming!”

“I…what just happened?” Pidge asked, clearly confused.

“We just got some free stuff. I guess that’s good, isn’t it?”

“I still feel bad for not paying for it.”

“We can make it up to him by buying some DLCs or something.” They both laughed, happily walking back to the castle to get the systems set up

\----

Setting up the new systems was much easier than any of the old Earth systems. Thanks to some work Pidge had done with the Olkari a while back, the castle got an update, and was compatible with the new gear.

Pidge and Keith got set up in their own rooms, since they figured they’d be out for a while and didn’t want to get in the way in the gaming room.

Pidge started up the system, going through the calibration that was required. She got her username, which she just left as Pidge, since it was already a nickname, and set up her password. Finally, she designed her character. She was impressed with the variety of alien races present, but ultimately chose human. Off she went into the fantasy world.

Pidge found herself in a courtyard of sorts, in the middle of a town. An unfamiliar figure stood next to her. But the username? Now that was something she recognized.

“Okay, so neither of us are good at coming up with names. Great.”

Keith looked at Pidge, confused even with the name. She was…

“Holy cow, Pidge, you’re…taller!”

“And you managed to make your mullet even more disgusting. Holy cow, how long is that ponytail?”

Keith reached up and touched the back of his head, shocked to find a long ponytail there. Then he looked back at Pidge. “You’re hair’s long too, Pidge. It’s almost unsettling seeing you look so girly..”

She punched his arm, and they both jumped back in alarm. “I…didn’t feel that. I mean, I felt my hand hit your arm, but it didn’t hurt or anything.”

“It didn’t hurt me either, but that’s normal.”

“Hey!”

They laughed, then looked at themselves. “Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve worn clothing this…form-fitting. But it’s even weirder that there’s no discomfort. It doesn’t feel tight or anything. It’s like the outfit was made specifically for my body.”

She was wearing a tight green top with sleeves to the elbows, made with a flexible material so she could move more easily. It was accompanied by brown leggings that reached midway to her calf, and tall, dark brown combat boots. Her long hair fell in waves down her back, reaching almost to her waist. She was equipped with a short sword and a dagger.

Keith, on the other hand, wore a loose red tunic with short sleeves. His black pants were tucked down into his own boots, which were almost identical to Pidge’s. His hair was tied back into a high ponytail, reaching down to his collar. A longsword was strapped to his waist.

In short, they looked completely different.

“Come to think of it, I think you’re a bit taller too, Keith.” Pidge took a step forward, then stopped. “What in the world…I feel like I’m falling forward. Like there’s an extra weight on my chest…” She looked down, shocked to find that she had much larger breasts than she was used to. “What in the world?”

Slowly, her expression shifted from surprise to joy. “I have boobs! Keith, I actually have boobs! This is the best game ever!”

“I swear, Pidge, you get excited over the strangest things.” He took his own tentative steps forward. Walking took a bit to get used to, but soon enough, both of them were running through the streets, admiring the amazing graphics.

“Wow, the Olkari know how to make a game,” Pidge gushed, “These graphics feel so real, it’s like we’re actually in a city!”

“New players, stop here!”

Keith slowed down, grabbing Pidge’s arm and snapping her out of her excitement. “Hey, I think that guy might be talking to us.”

Pidge looked in the direction Keith was pointing. There was a large building with the word TUTORIAL written on it in…English?

“Woah, wait. That’s in English, Pidge. How is that in English?”

“We set up language settings, remember? I bet the game translates all signs and names and stuff to English so we can read them.”

“But that raises another question. Human? English? What, did they know we were coming?”

“Keith, we’ve made humans incredibly popular as paladins. Look around, there’s other players that picked human as their race. And as for the language, I bet there’s language detection software built into the helmets. Once they realized that English is our native language, they found translations in the Olkari databases, which, thanks to both my own work and my dad’s, contains not only English, but a variety of Earth languages.”

Keith looked a little confused, but nodded anyway. He turned back to the guy who was pointing to the shop. “Should we talk to him?”

Pidge looked at him. “I don’t know. His name reads NPC, or Non-player Character, so he probably has automated responses. I doubt there’s a whole lot we can talk to him about.”

The NPC began talking once the duo walked close enough. “Welcome, new players! Step through this door to begin the tutorial! Without it, playing the game will be difficult!”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, user!” Then the NPC fell silent.

“Should we go inside?” Keith asked, already moving towards the door.

“I don’t see why not. It’ll probably be helpful.”

Keith pushed open the door, both of them walking through. A disembodied voice began giving them commands.

“Welcome, new players. To begin, open your menu. Use your right hand, unarmed, and swipe to the left.”

They both followed suit, taken aback by the menus that appeared in front of them. Floating boxes with different options were displayed.

The voice proceeded to walk them through menu navigation, then teach them the basic movement mechanics, such as jumping and climbing, through small obstacle courses that were easy to get through.

“Please draw your weapons,” the voice commanded.

They both drew their swords. The voice taught them basic sword fighting techniques, which Keith found to be incredibly easy. Even Pidge didn’t have much trouble with them.

“To use weapon abilities, pull back into a prepared stance, wait for the weapon to charge, and swing or lunge forward.”

They both did so, destroying the dummies that appeared in front of them in single hits.

“Congratulations. Tutorial completed.” They found themselves warped back out on to the street they were on before, except this time the NPC ignored them. They both got notifications for completing the tutorial.

“Dude, this game rocks!” Pidge swung her sword a few times, using a few different weapon abilities.

“As fun as this is, and I’m not saying I’m not having fun, because you’re right, this rocks, we should probably head back out. It’s almost dinner time.”

Pidge sighed. “You’re right. We ought to eat something. But can we play more after dinner?”

“You’re asking me like I’m your dad. That’s Shiro’s job.” They both laughed. Then Keith abruptly stopped.

“Pidge,” he asked, looking at his menu. “Where’s the logout button?”


	2. Trapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In hindsight, it was an obvious trap, one they both should have noticed. But then again, the person behind this mess is great at being deceptive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M NOT SORRY

Chapter 2: Trapped

Pidge stared at the blank button. She knew she’d seen the words “log out” there earlier, during the tutorial. So why, all of a sudden, were they gone?

She took a deep breath. “There’s…gotta be a logical explanation for this. A glitch? The game was released today, so there are potential bugs, but…something like this should have come up in the testing phase. Somebody would have noticed it long before the game was released.”

“Think somebody might have hacked the server?” Keith asked, trying to stay calm.

“It’s possible. Especially with the nature of the Olkarion, no pun intended. The people have a physical connection to the technology here. Using one of these headsets to hack the game and cause it to prevent people from logging out is a possibility. But why? What could somebody possibly hope to gain by trapping thousands of people in a video game?”

Pidge wished she hadn’t asked.

Maybe then, she wouldn’t have gotten an answer.

“All players, please report to the main hub.” The disembodied voice made Pidge jump with surprise, knocking Keith over and causing both of them to tumble to the ground. Keith scrambled to his feet, helping Pidge up hurriedly.

“I think we ought to listen to that voice,” Keith said. Pidge followed his line of sight and watched as a glowing barrier formed on the horizon. On closer inspection, it appeared to be getting closer. “I don’t think we have much of a choice.”

Pidge nodded, and the two took off toward the hub. Pidge was the one who noticed that there was a map in their menus, which helped with navigation, especially once she figured out how to make a minimap that hovered on their wrists, guiding them to their destination.

They arrived in a large, open courtyard, much larger than the one they started in. They were amazed at the giant mass of people already crowded into the area, with more constantly flowing in from streets and alleys. A few looked like they were being warped in, likely due to touching the strange barrier.

“Man,” Keith joked, “we should have just waited until that thing caught us. We wouldn’t have had to run here.”

“Keith, we don’t get physically tired here.”

“Then why are you out of breath?”

“Probably a mental reaction. My brain thinks I should be tired after a run, so I feel tired.”

Keith looked skeptical. Pidge looked up at him curiously, then yelped as Keith slugged her arm.

“Ow, Keith, what the heck? What was that for?” Her eyes widened in realization as she rubbed her arm. “That…that hurt…”

“Exactly,” Keith said, lowering his fist. “It didn’t hurt earlier. I think this is more than just a brain trick.”

Pidge blanched. “It’s definitely more than that. Your hair’s getting shorter!”

“So is yours!”

The two looked around, watching as the players around them began changing physically. Pidge felt like she was on an elevator, as her eye level gradually lowered. “Aw, man, I won’t have boobs anymore,” she mumbled.

Keith rolled his eyes. He looked down. The two of them seemed to have stopped shifting, the only thing that stayed the same being their outfits and weapons.

Pidge’s heart sank as she felt the weight of her weapons at her hip. She wouldn’t be able to use them now. She wasn’t sure how well she could even lift the short sword.

She tentatively drew her blade. Keith had already drawn his, ready to fight in case this was a huge trap. Pidge’s sword was heavy. Too heavy. There was no way she’d be able to fight well with it, not in her current state.

Keith looked down at her, noting her concerned expression and the way she held the sword. He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he said, “I’ll help you learn how to use it. For now, just stick with your dagger. We can practice with the sword later.”

Pidge was about to thank him, but a voice cut through the air. “Attention, users, we’re sorry for the…ce,..but…ver’s down…fix it…” The voice dropped and was replaced by a different, much clearer one.

It was a woman’s voice, old and raspy. Pidge thought she recognized it, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Keith, however, knew exactly who it was.

“Haggar,” he breathed, his face contorting in anger.

“Greetings, players of Fantasy Quest. I’m sure many of you have noticed that you can’t leave the game. Let’s just say it’s a part of my new game. A game of life or death.

“All of you are wearing virtual reality headgear. The headsets are normally harmless. However, with a bit of persuasion, the systems can be altered. And I have the power to do so. Whenever a player dies, I will trigger a mechanism in the headgear to instantly fry the brain of the user in question. In other words, if you die in the game, you’ll die for real.”

Pidge’s heart dropped, her face pale. Keith growled in anger. Leave it to that witch to take a game and turn it into a death trap.

“I’ve taken the liberty of tracking each player. If somebody from the outside world attempts to take the headgear off of you manually, the same rule applies: instant death.”

This was when Pidge began to panic. She was a paladin of Voltron. Somebody was bound to try to remove the headset. She was a defender of the universe, after all.

“Those of you here now need not fret over this. There have already been hundreds of cases of people trying to take off the headgear, and by this time, the public is well aware of the consequences of manually removing it.”

Not that that helped. Pidge’s hands shook. She’d been close to death before, of course, as a paladin, but this was different. In the past, there was always something she could use, some way to play to her own strengths. Now, she was stuck in a world that relied primarily on brute strength, something she severely lacked.

She felt a reassuring arm on her shoulders and looked up to see Keith looking down at her with a worried expression. “Don’t worry,” he whispered, pulling her into a hug and rubbing her back. “We’ll get out of here. We’ll find a way.”

Pidge began shaking from sobs. For the first time in a long time, she was afraid. Not just for herself, but for the entire universe. Without her, Voltron couldn’t be formed. Haggar’s trap might have unknowingly caused the end of Voltron.

Or…was it? Pidge thought back to the shop. They got the game for free because they were heroes. She should have read into it more, thought about why something so valuable would just be given away. Now she knew.

Haggar had planned to lure them into the game.

“She knows we’re here,” she mumbled into Keith’s chest. “We fell for her trap.”

“Calm down, Pidge. We’re heroes, remember? We can do this. We’ll find a way to get home.”

“Many of you may be wondering,” Haggar continued after her pause, “how to actually get out of the game. There is only one way: defeat the final boss.

“This challenge may seem simple to some of you, but I assure you, it’s worse than you think. All of your bodies have been changed to match their original state. While it is possible to get physically stronger, you will be limited by the same limitations your bodies had in the real world. You can only grow so much. And the game will progressively get more and more difficult. I don’t expect many of you to survive the next few days.”

“Beat…the boss?” Pidge asked, pulling away from Keith. “But…games like this are designed to never be completed, to go on forever so people keep playing them. How…”

“We’re going to make it,” Keith said, his voice filled with determination. “We have people who need us. We’re going to make it. If there’s an ending to this nightmare, we’ll find it. And you wanna know how I know that?”

Pidge looked at Keith skeptically. “How?”

“Because we have something worth fighting for: friends and family.”

\--

Matt scrambled out of his ship, running towards the castle frantically. If Shiro weren’t so muscular, Matt might have knocked him to the ground. Instead, it was like running into a wall.

“Matt, calm down. Freaking out won’t make this any better.”

“How am I supposed to calm down? My little sister is trapped inside a video game! I have to find a way to stop it!”

“Matt, hold on! We just heard-“ Matt pushed out of Shiro’s arms and ran into the castle. He knew the way to Pidge’s room by heart.

It was a good thing Shiro was a faster runner than Matt. He tackled Matt to the ground outside of Pidge’s open door. “Matt, you have to listen to me! If we take off the headgear, they’ll be killed!”

Matt stopped struggling, his arms falling limp as he stared up at Shiro. Finally, tears spilled from his eyes. “I just…I have to help her. She needs me…”

“Matt, she’s stronger than you give her credit for. She can take care of herself. Besides, Keith is with her.”

“Keith? As in, Keith ‘Maybe Not Our Weapons’ Kogane? That’s not helpful at all!”

Shiro sighed. He’d forgotten about Matt’s initial impressions of Keith from the Naxella incident. “Look, it may not be ideal, but she’s not alone. She’ll find a way.”

“How did they even know about this game? Pidge hardly ever leaves her hangar, much less the castle.”

“Allura heard about a new game and thought Pidge might be interested,” Coran said, emerging from the room. “She had no idea that the witch had set up a trap.”

Matt stood up and looked at Allura. She was sitting on Pidge’s bed, holding the younger girl’s hand. Matt marched into the room and grabbed Allura by the collar.

“So this is your fault then?”

“Matt, I-“

“You led my little sister into a trap! You might have just walked her to her own death!”

“Matt!” Shiro pulled on Matt’s shoulder but was taken aback by the look of rage on his friend’s face. But the most shocking part was the tears mixed with the rage.

Allura couldn’t bring herself to fight back. She was certainly capable of throwing Matt across the room for talking to her that way, but she couldn’t. Because she blamed herself. “Shiro…he’s right. I made a mistake.”

“No, Allura, you didn’t know your information was a trap. None of us did. And any one of us,” Shiro pulled Matt away from Allura. “including you, could have easily made the same mistake. So don’t you dare take this out on Allura. If you have anger to vent, there’s a training deck upstairs. I suggest you make use of it.”

Shiro let Matt go and walked out of the room and instead headed over to Keith’s. Hunk and Coran were in the process of hooking Keith up to medical equipment in order to keep Keith physically alive since he was more or less in a coma. They were finishing up, Hunk getting ready to head over to Pidge’s room to do the same for her.

They’d stripped Keith down to his boxers in order to hook him up. Hunk looked at Shiro with a sad expression. “We’re about to head over to Pidge’s room. Sounds like Matt’s here. Think he’d be willing to help us? Because, I’ll be honest,” he rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not comfortable doing this to her, even if she is in a coma.”

Shiro nodded. “It might take a bit of persuasion, but he should be willing to help her in any way he can. You don’t have to worry.”

Hunk sighed in relief as he gathered up everything he needed. “Thank goodness. Let’s head over there, Coran.”

Shiro looked at Keith’s unmoving body, a pang of sadness stabbing at his heart. Coran placed a hand on his shoulder. “He’ll be okay, Shiro. I’m sure he and number five will find a way to break the curse.”

Shiro nodded and Coran walked out the door. Taking Keith’s hand, Shiro sat on the bed. Keith had been like a younger brother to him. It hurt to see him like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've decided that this takes place after season 5. Which means, yes, Lotor will be in it at some point, just not yet. Also, I've been considering pushing for some Shallura. Let me know what you think of that.
> 
> I don't plan on doing irl scenes in every chapter, but this won't be the only time we check in on the rest of team Voltron.


	3. World of Wonder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every fantasy roleplay has a little bit of it, doesn't it? That doesn't necessarily make it easy to acquire, but it's almost always there, even if only a select few have access to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I’m actually going to put some effort into releasing chapters in a timely manner. It looks like not just this, but all of my Kidge fics get a positive response. You guys are what drives me to keep writing. Without your support, I’d give up! Thank you all!

Chapter 3: World of Wonder

Pidge wiped the sweat from her forehead. The dog-like creature exploded and she was awarded experience, pushing her up to level 5.

“Nice one, Pidge,” Keith said from where he sat on the grass. “We’re about even now.”

“In levels, maybe,” she said, plopping down next to him, “but you’ll always be stronger. I can’t get the hang of this sword.”

“Hey, you’ll figure out your own way in time. Nobody’s expected to be an expert the first time they pick up a weapon. Our bayards were different since they were tailored specifically to us, but these weapons aren’t.”

Pidge sighed. “Whatever.”

Keith thought for a moment about what to say to make her feel better. “Keep your stance wide. Keep your body lowered.”

Pidge scoffed. “You watch Steven Universe?”

“Every now and then. And on that note, you should remember that you’re strong in the real way.”

“Shut up, you dork.” Pidge looked at the setting sun. “Let’s keep going, the next town should be beyond that hill.” She double checked her statement with her map, then stood up and continued walking.

“Hey, you barely took a break. Why not sit here a little longer?”

“Says the guy who’s been sitting there for the last ten minutes while I got in some practice. Come on, lazy butt, I’m hungry.”

They’d survived for about a week so far. Pidge had gotten over her panic over being trapped in a game, especially after a few days went by with neither of them being manually disconnected by anyone on the outside.

She desperately wished she could talk to them, let everyone know they were okay. Shiro would probably be able to keep everyone under control. Allura had dealt with loss before and would be able to cope, as would Coran. Hunk would probably busy himself with little projects to keep his mind off of it. Lance might shut down completely. Matt…oh gosh, Matt. Pidge hated to think about how he would react to the news that she was basically in a coma.

“Thinking about them again?” Keith asked as they reached the top of the hill.

“How’d you know?”

“You make a certain face when your head is somewhere else. You’ve been making it a lot this past week.”

“At least I don’t cry in my sleep.”

“That was one time! Am I ever gonna live that down?”

“Never. I don’t see what the problem is, though, it was nice to see you being the one sharing emotions for a change.”

“It’s just…it’s not tough! I’m the cold, distant one. I don’t get touchy-feely.”

“Calm down. You know how rare it is to find guys that aren’t afraid to show emotion? Rare. And quite frankly, a man who is willing to admit that he does, in fact, have feelings, is rather attractive. Certainly more so than an emotionless rock.”

Keith rolled his eyes and turned away, hiding a small smile.

“Hey, there’s the town. Come on. I swear I can smell the food from here.”

The two wandered the town until they came across a tavern that was emanating a variety of delicious smells. Before they knew it, they each had a plate full of unfamiliar food, at such a quality as to almost match Hunk’s cooking.

They ate in silence, choosing instead to listen in to conversations happening around them.

“…heard that you can learn magic there.”

Pidge sat up straighter, listening intently to the conversation a few tables over.

“So there’s magic in this game too?”

“Must be. I bet that witch’s avatar, hacked as it may be, was magic heavy. I’m telling you, that tent could be our key to getting stronger.”

“I dunno, man, I’ve always been better with a sword…”

Pidge stood up, her empty plate disappearing. Keith looked up at her as he shoved his last bite into his mouth. “Where are you going?” He asked, crumbs spraying out of his mouth and vanishing on impact with anything.

“For a walk. It’s a nice night.”

Keith swallowed. “I don’t know how comfortable I am with you going alone.”

“I’ll be fine. Find us some cheap rooms at the inn and dm me the location.” Pidge opened her menu and sent Keith some money for the rooms. “I don’t think I’ll be out for long.”

Keith tried to protest, but Pidge had left the tavern before he could. Her first thought was to check her map, see if the tent she was looking for was marked.

“No dice,” she mumbled to herself. Her next step was deductive reasoning. A tent wouldn’t be set up in the middle of town. And since they hadn’t seen it on their way in, it was likely situated on the outskirts, opposite of the side they came from. And so, she set off down the street to investigate.

\--

Keith wasn’t comfortable with Pidge going off on her own, but he was also afraid to admit that he didn’t want to be alone either. He’d grown so used to her company that he found himself missing her as soon as she walked through the door.

Keith was used to being alone. He’d spent years on his own until he met Shiro, and another year alone after the Kerberos mission allegedly failed. But something about Pidge was different. Yes, Keith always preferred to have a friend by his side, but his longing to be near Pidge was more than that. It was almost like…

“Oh quiznak,” he mumbled, staring at his hands. “I have a crush on her.”

He stopped himself. Sure, he’d gotten along well with Pidge from the moment they’d met, but the two of them hadn’t really been all that close, until recently, when she started teaching him how to play video games. Surely he was simply attached to her. He was in a strange new place, where death was almost assured. Of course, he’d much rather have somebody he knew close by, and Pidge was his only friend in the game.

Yeah.

That was it.

Keith walked towards the inn, his mind convinced that it was very platonic and very normal. His heart, on the other hand, seemed to betray his mind as it ached.

\--

Pidge kept her eyes and ears peeled as she searched for the mysterious tent. She continued to listen to passing conversation to see if anybody else had heard of or seen her destination.

Pidge had never been the strongest fighter. True, she was good at taking advantage of her surroundings to give herself the upper hand, but that was with her Bayard. In this world, she had no grapple, no lightweight weapon that was made just for her. Despite Keith’s teaching, she knew she would never be able to master her sword.

That’s why she wanted to learn magic.

If there was anything that she’d learned from her experiences with fantasy novels and Dungeons and Dragons, it’s that a lot of the physically weaker characters are amazing magicians. Those are also often the smartest characters. That description seemed to match Pidge perfectly, seeing as she was small but incredibly smart. Her strengths lied in her intellect and cleverness.

She stepped out of an alley into an open field on the outskirts of town. There weren’t any other players out here. Actually, it looked like there weren’t even NPCs. Pidge took a few steps into the field to take a better look around.

It felt unusually dark. The rest of the town was lit up with lamps, but being out here, the only light was that of the moon.

Pidge sighed. It seemed that her hunch had been wrong. Of course, those guys at the tavern could have made the whole thing up.

She walked across the field, taking in the solitude. She had to admit, it felt odd to be on her own again after so long. The last time she’d done something by herself was when she found Matt, and that felt like it was ages ago.

“So, you’re alone too, huh?”

Pidge turned around to find herself face to face with an Olkari. Upon closer examination, this wasn’t a player, but merely an NPC. He stood there, awaiting her response, frozen in place.

“Yeah, it’s just me,” Pidge responded, eying the program curiously.

“Wandering around alone can be dangerous. But then, sometimes it’s easier to stop and listen when you’re on your own.”

Pidge thought for a moment about how best to respond. “What am I supposed to be listening for?”

The NPC smiled. “Wonder.” Then he turned and walked away, leaving Pidge alone once again.

She huffed in frustration. She wasn’t a very patient person, and this little quest of hers was beginning to become rather exhausting. She thought about what the NPC had said. “Sometimes it’s easier to stop and listen when you’re on your own.” Well, she was certainly on her own now.

Even though she felt ridiculous, she closed her eyes and tried to listen. She started to feel like she did when she bonded with her lion. She mentally reached out in that familiar way.

Then she heard it.

Once she pinpointed a direction, she followed the sound. It reminded her of ice cream truck music, but slower and softer. It was…calming.

She found herself on the end of a grove of trees. She could have sworn she could see lights shining their way through the lush greenery. After a moment of hesitation, she pressed on.

Ever since unlocking the Green Lion’s nature abilities, Pidge had found herself more in touch with the outdoors. Back on Earth, she would have hated shoving her way through trees and bushes, stepping on branches and leaves and tripping over rocks. But now, she felt a sense of familiarity in the woods.

The light grew stronger, as did the music. She began hearing more and more instruments, until it became an entire orchestra, playing a solemn tune. Then, voices chimed in, started high, and gradually adding lower tones. It was like a choir of angels in mourning.

No, it wasn’t mourning. It may have started that way, but the closer Pidge got to her destination, the more the song seemed to brighten into one of jubilance.

Pidge wasn’t really sure when she emerged from the trees. It was almost like they’d faded away to reveal a clearing. In the center, a large tent that radiated light and music watched over the area. It reminded her of a circus tent, with how large and colorful it was.

After taking in the view, Pidge pushed open the tent flap, finding herself in what appeared to be a waiting area. From her quick check of the room, she determined that different areas of the tent were divided by curtains. The one she was in had some large beanbag cushions and only one other opening, leading deeper into the tent.

Pidge heard a little jingle, signaling that she’d received a direct message. Opening her dashboard, she saw that she’d received two notices: one from Keith, and one from somebody named “The Wonder Worker.” Keith’s message just informed her that he’d found a place to stay and that he wondered where she was.

The message from The Wonder Worker, however, was more interesting. “Greetings, curious traveler. You have reached the World of Wonder. Proceed onward if you wish to learn the ways of the mage.”

Onward likely meant through the only other opening in the room. Closing out of her menu, she walked through the opening, deeper into the tent.

\--

Keith paced the room nervously. What if she’d gotten hurt? What if somebody attacked her? What if she’d decided to leave him behind and continue on her own?

He heard something pound on the floor, likely the tenants down below. “Hey, keep it down up there, some of us are trying to sleep!”

Keith couldn’t be bothered to yell back. Instead, he kicked off his boots and kept pacing.

It had been half an hour since he messaged her, and she hadn’t said anything. Granted, she hadn’t read it until about twenty minutes after he sent it, but her lack of response made him nervous. Pidge was the kind of person who texted you back immediately unless she was otherwise occupied.

Throughout the past week, Keith had adjusted to not having his Marmora blade with him. It had taken a while at first (which may have been the cause of his nightmares that first night), but Pidge had helped him realize that it was with his body in the real world, so technically, he always had it with him.

But at this moment, he wished he had it. He had a tendency to fidget with it when he was nervous or stressed, and he’d much rather play with his knife than bother the neighbors with his pacing. It acted as a safety blanket for him. It made him feel better about everything. And it would certainly help him feel better about Pidge.

He considered going out to find her but had quickly pushed the idea aside. The town they were in was rather large, and it was late. It would be difficult for him to find anything, much less Pidge, who is small and elusive. He’d decided that if she wasn’t back by the first sunrise, he’d go look for her with the help of the first sun.

This was an interesting world. There were two suns and at least seven moons. Pidge pointed out that there could easily be more that they couldn’t see at the time they were counting. Each of the moons felt so far away, and even combined it didn’t feel like they matched the brilliance of Earth’s one moon. Though, that could be because Keith is used to the desert, where the only light at night is from the moon.

He prayed that she hadn’t gotten lost in the dark. He’d sent her a map with the location of the inn marked on it attached to his dm, but he didn’t know if she’d opened the attachment.

He finally sighed and sat down on his bed. All this worrying wouldn’t do him any good. He’d have to be patient. She’d find her way back, and if she didn’t, he’d find her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I finally decided to just split this into two parts. I’d had enough wondering what the frick frack Pidge would do to learn magic, and it had already been quite some time since chapter two. So, yeah, I broke it into parts for you guys, just to give you a little something to tide you over until I can FIGURE THIS OUT.


	4. World of Wonder part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge has new things to learn and a little surprise to share with Keith. Meanwhile, Keith isn't used to worrying and fell asleep. What a doofus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I’ve realized that with the release of season 6, the age gap between Keith and Pidge went from three years to five years, which is kinda big. HOWEVER. If you recall, in Disney’s Tangled, Rapunzel and Flynn Rider are, like, 8 years apart. Therefore, I STILL SHIP IT, BECAUSE IT’S ACCEPTABLE.
> 
> Also, WOW THIS ONE WAS HARD TO WRITE. It took me a while to figure out how I wanted to depict it, how to teach somebody magic.
> 
> Please, PLEASE read my end note, as it will have some details for a little thing for you guys!

Chapter 4: World of Wonder (Part 2)

The NPC in front of Pidge was labeled as “The Wonder Worker.” He had a long robe that dragged against the ground. The tip of a tail poked out of the back of it, the orange scales complimenting the dark blue of the robe. He had two long arms with clawed hands, three fingers on each. His neck looked like two separate necks twisted together.

Pidge couldn’t see where his neck ended and his face began, as the scaly creature also had some sort of beard. Upon closer inspection, Pidge decided that it wasn’t really hair, but more like a light bundle of feathers. They were a pale orange. The same feathers rested on the top of the Wonder Worker’s head in a similar pattern to a horse’s mane, trailing down the back of his head where they disappeared into his cloak. He had one single red eye. Pidge also noted that he had no visible mouth. She almost jumped when he “spoke” without moving at all.

“What is your name, young lady?” The voice was deep and smooth. It definitely originated from the Wonder Worker, but it also felt as though it was spoken directly into the young paladin’s mind.

“My name is Pidge,” she said carefully, reaching for her sword, only to find that it wasn’t there.

“You cannot fight in here. All of your melee weapons were unequipped when you entered the tent. This is a place of magic.”

“So the rumors are true,” she muttered. The Wonder Worker nodded solemnly.

“This, my dear, is the place where one can learn the ways of the mage.”

The scene around the pair changed. What had previously been a dark entryway melted away into a well lit tent. Objects were floating around, including large bubbles of water. Small tornadoes spun in contained circles on the ground, which appeared to be cracked and uneven. Fire burned in torches that weren’t mounted on anything. At the top of the tent, a cluster of storm clouds rippled with lightning.

“This is where you will learn magic.”

Pidge gazed at the room, awestruck. Then she grinned. “Where do I start?”

The Wonder Worker stepped in front of her. “There are six possible spells that you can learn: fire, water, wind, ground, gravity, and lightning, in that order. For today, we’ll just work on fire. You can learn the rest as you progress on your journey.”

“Yeah, some journey this has turned out to be…”

“What was that? I didn’t quite catch what you said.”

Pidge had to take a second to remember that she was speaking to a program, and that it wasn’t built to understand everything she said. “I said, how do I learn the fire spell?”

The Wonder Worker glided across the tent, his tail leaving a smooth trail in the dirt behind him. He stopped at a lower torch, one that was just about head height for him and about a foot above Pidge.

“You see the flames? One must remember that fire is alive. I like to start my students out with fire because it teaches patience and control, making it easier to learn some of the other spells.”

“So it’s like a living creature.”

“Precisely. And as such, you have to be willing to set boundaries. To limit the fire, limit yourself. Yes, it’s possible to pour everything you have into a fire attack, but everything around you would burn. To prevent harm to yourself and your allies, you must exercise self control.”

Pidge noticed out of the corner of her eye that something changed on her display. Underneath her health bar, a smaller red bar labeled “magic” had appeared.

“Your magic gauge will help you know how much fire is appropriate to use. If you drain the gauge completely, you will have to rest for a full eight hours to restore it. Otherwise, it will gradually restore itself when you are outside of combat.”

The Wonder Worker stepped back from Pidge, gesturing for her to move back as well. He raised his hands up and yelled “Fire!” Flames shot from his fingertips, spiraling through the tent. He was right, the flame was alive. Pidge considered that it looked like a dragon was flying overhead. It started out small, controlled, and gathered more power as it flew through the various different torches, taking their flames with it. Finally, all of the fire gathered in a ball in front of the Wonder Worker. It shrank down to about the size of a basketball.

“Now, my student, reach into the flames and make their power your own.”

Pidge looked at the fire skeptically. She could feel its warmth on her skin. Every instinct told her that to touch fire would mean that she would get burned.

No. She couldn’t stop after coming all this way. She had to at least try.

Pidge reached out and placed her hand in the ball of fire.

\---

Keith realized that he’d worried himself to sleep. When he woke up, he was in a rather uncomfortable position, having slumped over on the bed. His back hurt.

He stood up, trying to twist and stretch his back out, forcing a yawn.

Glancing at his display clock, it had only been about an hour since he’d fallen asleep.

He rubbed his eyes. What could have woken him up like that?

Then he heard it, a knocking on the door. He tensed for a moment, considering that it could be somebody hostile, but the familiar voice reassured him that all was well.

“Keith?” Pidge called through the door. “You had better not be asleep in there. I’m tired, man. You forgot to send me the key.”

Keith smiled, ignoring his own stupidity. She’d made it back safely. That was all that mattered.

He opened the door to reveal a mix of exhaustion, frustration, and excitement.

“And just where have you been all this time? I was about to come looking for you!”

“Keith, you don’t have a shirt on. I doubt you were going to come looking for me any time soon. Besides, we’re in a party, remember? If you really wanted to know where I was,” Pidge opened her menu, followed by her map. She pointed to the two dots blinking on it. “You could have just looked at the map. Party members are trackable.”

Keith stared at her blankly before slapping himself on the forehead. “I can’t believe I’m such an idiot.”

“Hey, you’re not here to think. I’m the brains and you’re the brawn.”

“But I can think for myself a little. And I know I was worried about you. Where were you?”

“I’ll tell you in the morning. I’m tired.” She flopped onto the untouched bed, noticing that one of the beds already looked used.

Keith sighed. “I’m too tired to argue with that. We’ll talk in the morning.”

\---

Keith was as confused as ever when Pidge dragged him to a sparring field near the inn. A few curious players had gathered, wondering what the two humans were doing. By then, the rumor of paladins being in the game had spread far and wide, considering they were supposedly the only humans in the universe that had access to the game. The rumors weren’t quite right, since Keith wasn’t technically a paladin anymore nor was he entirely human, but the pair had become not only popular, but a symbol of hope as well. Many had chosen to keep fighting instead of giving up because of the paladins.

If Voltron was there to help, then they’d be there to help Voltron.

“Pidge, calm down. What is it you want to show me?”

Pidge looked incredibly happy, which was unnerving. It was hard to be excited or happy about anything in this world.

“I’ll show you.”

She stepped away from him, sending him the duel invite. He accepted and the duel began. Drawing his sword, he charged at her. He felt a small sense of pride as she dodged. He’d taught her that.

Pride quickly turned to surprise at what happened next.

“Fire!”

Keith’s eyes widened as a torrent of flames shot from Pidge’s hands. She wasn’t aiming at him, but rather the grass beneath his feet. Which caught flame almost instantly.

“Ow! Ow ow ow!” Keith jumped around, trying to get away from the fire. Every time he put a foot down, his hp dropped a little lower, until he was finally free. He looked at Pidge in amazement.

“Is that…magic?”

“No, I’ve always been able to do this and the game just barely figured it out. Yes, it’s magic!”

“I concede the duel,” Keith announced. The sequence ended, granting Pidge the victory. “So that’s where you were last night. You were out learning magic!”

“I didn’t tell you because I wanted it to be a surprise,” she said guiltily. “The weapons in this world just don’t work for me. I know you’ve noticed it. I’m not gonna lie, I miss my bayard. I realized that I’d need to find an alternative to using a sword. So, when I overheard some folks talking about magic, I jumped at the chance. Now you won’t be carrying this team. We can work together.”

“That’s amazing!” Keith yelled, grabbing Pidge under the arms and spinning her around. She was alarmed, almost slapping Keith in the fact for moving at her so quickly.

“What the…”

“Oh!” Keith set her down, blushing lightly. “Sorry. Just, uh, got a little excited there.”

Pidge’s confusion melted away. She started laughing at him. “You’re a doofus, you know that?”

“And you’re a nerd.”

“Then I guess it’s meant to be.”

“The doof and the nerd, partners. Not sure how I feel about that.”

“Then let’s just go with…red and green.”

Keith deflated a little. “But…I’m not the red paladin anymore.”

“You’re still part of the team, and the family. Plus, red and green is better than black and green. Or purple and green if we’re going with your Blade outfit. You wear a red jacket anyway, even here.” She gestured to his coat.

“Alright,” Keith said, nodding. “Red and green it is. We could start a guild with that name.”

“Nah, I think I like it better with just the two of us. Running a guild would be way too much work that neither of us would want to do, and you know it.”

They headed back to the inn to gather their things before heading out of the safe zone. “You know,” Keith said, “I never thought of you as a burden for me to carry. I’m sorry if you felt that way.”

“It’s cool. I know I won’t feel like that anymore after today.”

“So, how exactly does your magic work?”

“I have this little bar underneath my health bar that shows how much magic I have left. I can use spells of different strengths that use different amounts of magic.”

“Is fire all you can do?”

“For now. The more I use it and level it up, the more spells I can learn. I think I get a new one every ten. That would make the most sense. So for right now, I’m at magic level one, with rather inefficient magic usage. Just setting the grass on fire drained half my magic. It restores itself naturally unless I totally run out. Then I have to get a full rest to get it back.”

“Why does this feel so familiar?”

“It’s like I said before. I’m the brains and you’re the brawn. Now we’re balanced, just like we were back with Voltron.”

Suddenly, they both heard a little jingle. They opened their menus to find a new message for both of them.

“The boss room has been located,” Pidge read. “Any willing fighters, report to the town Hypnea in two days.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FINALY FINISHED
> 
> I told myself, “Melodic, you have to get it done before season seven drops, or your fans will be angry at you.”
> 
> Well, I met the deadline. And season seven drops in five hours. Nailed it.
> 
> So, I know I mentioned before that I might sneak some Shallura in occasionally, but thanks to what we learned at SDCC, that’s not happening. Besides, Allurance is actually super cute.
> 
> Some of you have asked if I have a regular posting schedule or if I could get on one. I’m sorry to say that I don’t and I won’t. I believe in quality over quantity. You want good chapters? Be patient and wait until they’re done. If I set deadlines, I’d be giving you short and broken chapters that wouldn’t flow right and would be full of errors.
> 
> Oh, and one final announcement: I have decided to study English in college! I want to minor in both creative writing and editing. That’s right, I’m planning to make a career out of writing. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes if any of you are still here in like six years.
> 
> And the little thing I talked about? I’m working on a novel! Like, a totally original one. It’s on my Wattpad (And I’m sorry Wattpad readers for the redundancy) which you can find at https://www.wattpad.com/user/loolaalee so get over there and check out the prologue! The one you’re looking for is title Reverie. Anything else on my Wattpad (besides the Kidge stuff) is probably going to be abandoned and left to rot.


	5. Raid Boss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the first major test for our heroes in Fantasy Quest! Can they survive and open the doors to the next part of the game?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SEASON SEVEN OH MY GOODNESS
> 
> For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, don’t worry, I won’t be spoiling anything. This fanfic officially takes place after season five and before season six, mainly because Keith and Pidge are in the Castle of Lions. I can’t very well move them, now can I? That’s too much work. So for now, the only threat is Haggar and everything else is FINE. IT’S FINE.
> 
> That said, I have made the decision to omit Lotor (for the most part. I will mention him once.) He’s just…dumb. I’m sure many of us can agree that he has no place here. So, he just won’t be here. He’s off taking care of his empire.
> 
> That also means that this fic operates under the assumption that there is no clone Shiro. The one that many have labeled as “Kuro” is the Shiro of this fic, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s enough. So I won’t be worrying about any of that either.

Olkarion was in mourning.

Thousands of innocent Olkari were trapped in Fantasy Quest. Of those, hundreds had been killed in the weeks since the game’s launch. The death rates had been steadily decreasing, but the damage had been done. A majority of the population had been personally affected by the tragedy.

A ceremony was organized to honor those who had fallen thus far. Lance wondered how many more would occur before either Haggar won or somebody found a way to beat the game. He knew that there wouldn’t be an end to the deaths until then. Yes, this ceremony was important to a lot of folks on Olkarion, but Lance figured it wouldn’t be the only ceremony of its kind.

Ryner gave a brief, powerful speech, right up until the end, when she was choked up, fighting back tears. Her own grandson had been killed in this massacre, and it was clear that all of this was taking its toll on the queen.

Lance felt someone grab his hand. He looked over to see Allura, a look of comfort on her face. He hadn’t noticed that he himself had been crying.

Lance had yet to see Allura cry over the whole affair, and he thought he’d figured out why. She was still blaming herself for everything. She was so full of self-loathing that it was blocking out any opportunity for her to grieve.

It was also possible that she had faith that Keith and Pidge would save everyone, that they would make it out of the hell they were trapped in and free all those under Haggar’s control.

Those who had helped design the game, oblivious at the time to Haggar’s plan, had explained that it could possibly take months or possibly over a year for those participating to reach the end. The game wasn’t meant to have an end at all, as it was filled with various branching paths and areas to be explored and could be constantly updated with new content to keep people interested. As it stood, the players had a set base game to complete, but since the Olkari wanted to release as much of the game as possible with the initial release, there was still a lot of ground to cover to reach the end. Added to that, players had to be strong enough to defeat the bosses, taking even more time to get stronger.

In short, Lance knew that there was a lot of waiting to do.

As Ryner concluded her speech and the crowd dispersed, Lance pulled Allura off to the side.

“Hey Princess, I didn’t want to bring this up with everyone else around, but…what are we going to do about Voltron? We need Pidge to fly the Green Lion, and I think it’s pretty likely that Haggar or Sendak or somebody will try to pull something while we’re all distracted.”

“Lotor’s doing his best with his allies to keep everything in line within the Galra empire. However, I do believe you have a point. Voltron could be needed at any time. However, finding a new paladin isn’t going to be easy.”

“What about Matt? He is Pidge’s brother, after all.”

“That may be true, but if the Lions cared about bloodline, I’d have been able to fly Red like my father. Besides, he’s not handling his grief well at all. I don’t want his emotions to get in the way of the team.”

“Maybe…there’s other members of the coalition?” Lance said thoughtfully. “Or maybe somebody here on Olkarion?”

“How would we even go about checking the worthiness of that many people?”

“What if…what if we let people into Green’s hangar? See how they react to her, test if they can connect to her. Whoever can get the barrier down and enter the lion can be the new paladin?”

“I don’t know…I’m not sure how comfortable I am letting so many people into the castle at once.”

“How many people would honestly want to put their lives on the line for the universe? Voltron isn’t indestructible. We’ve proven before that it’s dangerous to be a paladin. That alone narrows it down to the most noble people.”

“And what if it doesn’t work? What if we can’t find the right person?”

“Then maybe Green can find her own paladin…”

“By finding somebody who matches her quintessence! That’s it!”

Allura ran off, Lance running after her. They had a lot to do.

 

Keith hadn’t expected a lot of people to show up to challenge the boss.

However, he’d hoped there’d be more than the ten that they had.

“Paladins,” a young man named Shyrik said. “I don’t know how comfortable I am with you being a part of this fight. The universe needs you. Let us handle this.”

“We’re the defenders of the universe,” Pidge said simply, “and that includes everyone trapped in this nightmare. We’re fighting for our lives just like anybody else.

Shyrik sighed. “Okay, okay. Truth be told, I’m glad you’re here, I just…I don’t want your blood on my hands.”

“This is our own choice,” Keith said. “If we die here, the only one to blame is The Witch.”

Since very few players actually knew Haggar’s name, folks had begun calling her “The Witch,” and the nickname stuck.

Shyrik nodded. “Right, then. I suppose we should fight.”

Keith rested a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay to be scared, man. Just because you’re the leader doesn’t mean you have to be brave all the time. I had to learn that the hard way. You shouldn’t have to.”

“Thank you, Keith. I appreciate it.”

The small group stopped at a large set of double doors. A large tag labeled the door as BOSS ROOM. “This is it,” Shyrik announced. “This is where the battle will take place. Behind these doors, the boss awaits.”

Keith gripped Pidge’s hand tightly. The group was formed of four different parties made of two or three members each. Keith and Pidge had been partied since the start of the game and had remained that way for the raid group. Pidge’s name rested just underneath Keith’s at the edge of his vision. The magic bar, now fully recharged, sat as a thin line below Pidge’s health bar.

Gosh, he hoped she survived the fight.

He’d already tried to talk her out of it numerous times on their way here. But every time, she argued that she needed to fight just as much as he did, that she was just as much responsible for the safety of everyone here as him.

But it was her final argument that finally convinced him to let her go:

“If you’re going to protect everyone else, then who’s going to protect you?”

Deep down, he knew he would need her help. He was aware of his recklessness. He needed somebody to have his back.

As everyone filed into the large, seemingly empty room, the doors slammed shut behind them. There was no way out now.

The room was gradually lit by torches, igniting two at a time around the circular space. On the opposite end of the room, a staircase led up to another large set of doors.

A loud roar caused the room to shake. A few people lost their balance and fell to their knees while everyone else stumbled a bit in an effort to remain standing.

Pidge looked up in horror to see a large, wolf-like creature drop from the ceiling. Wolf was a loose description, as the creature had six legs, two tails, and had a second mouth on its forehead. Bones stuck out of the beast’s back. The label “BOSS” appeared over its head as both mouths roared, flinging slobber everywhere. One guy yelped in surprise before screaming in pain as he was hit by saliva. Evidently, the spit was acidic.

“Don’t let the drool hit you!” Pidge yelled, diving to avoid getting hit herself.

Having taken in the beast in front of them, Shyrik nodded. “Don’t let its size scare you! Stay in your parties and attack from all angles! Try to flank it and hit it from behind, and whatever you do, don’t get hit by the drool!”

The group yelled in triumph. After consuming a healing item, the guy who got hit was back on his feet and weaving between the wolf’s legs.

“Keith! Help me draw its attention so everyone else can attack!”

Keith hesitated for a moment, but nodded, running forward and slashing at the beast’s forelegs, expertly dodging any attempts to be stepped on or clawed.

“Fire!” Pidge yelled, shooting flames in short bursts towards the monster’s face.

The large health bar steadily decreased as more and more damage was done. For a moment, it seemed like they’d all make it through without much trouble.

All it took was a little stumble, a little tangle of his feet, and Keith fell. Pidge gasped as he was hit square in the back with the beast’s front paw and thrown into the wall.

“Keith!” Pidge ran over and slid to her knees at his side. His health had taken a huge hit, falling below a quarter and into “the red zone.” He breathed heavily, gripping at his ribs.

“Leave…leave me here! I’ll be fine, just—” he started coughing. “Watch out!”

Pidge turned around too late as the beast snapped at her with its lower mouth. It caught her by the arm, causing her to scream as she was lifted off her feet. The bite cut a huge chunk of her health and hurt like the dickens. She felt the teeth sink into her arm and fought the urge to cry as she was tossed around like a chew toy.

Risking more damage, Pidge yelled “Fire!” and began blasting flames into the wolf’s mouth. It cried out in pain, dropping her and reeling back. Soldiers quickly moved out of the way to avoid the reeling creature. It fell back onto its rear, leaving it wide open to attack.

“Everyone attack!” Shyrik’s yell was answered by the battle cries of the brave crew as they charged the beast.

Pidge gasped for air, holding her arm. She’d finished off her magic, and her health was even lower than Keith’s. Her left arm looked like swiss cheese, riddled with holes. There wasn’t blood in this world, but Pidge’s mind filled in the gaps. She looked away, trying not to gag.

Trusting that the others could handle themselves, Shyrik ran over to check on Keith. He’d gotten to his feet, but was a little wobbly. “You should sit out the rest of the fight. You’ve done more than enough for us.”

“He’s open. I can take this chance to fight him, even if I can’t do a lot on my own.”

“If you insist, you’re welcome to—” The wolf howled, jumping back to its feet. It charged at the first person it set its eyes on: Pidge.

“No!” Keith stepped towards her but was thrown back by Shyrik, who, admittedly, ran much faster than he would have.

Pidge looked up at the wolf, drawing her sword as it approached where she sat. If she was going down, she was going down fighting.

She didn’t expect Shyrik to jump in front of her at the last second, driving his sword into the wolf’s head. The critical hit sent the wolf reeling, landing on its side and whimpering. Shyrik reached his hand out to Pidge. “Come, Pidge. Now is no time to sit.”

With Shyrik’s help, Pidge made her way over to the stunned boss and assisted with the onslaught of attacks that ultimately ended the beast’s life.

A pre-recorded voice rang out with a simple message: “Congratulations, brave heroes. You have defeated the boss for this level, and now have access to the next! Good luck completing your Fantasy Quest!”

Pidge snorted. “Obligatory title drop. Video games are the same no matter what planet they’re on.”

The health of anyone who’d gotten hurt automatically refilled and all injuries were healed. Pidge watched as the holes in her arm patched themselves up. She felt her strength return. Even her magic was restored.

They’d defeated the boss and were one step closer to being free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long! For a while I just lacked the drive to write, but there was also one other major road block: another writing project. I won’t go into the details, but it ended up being really long and out of control, so I decided to stop writing it and turn my attention to this and a few other things.
> 
> There’s also the matter of the Pokemon fic that I wrote. Long story short, I was watching the anime and really wanted to write a fanfic about it because I’m a nerd like that.
> 
> Anyway, I have a job now, but I doubt that it will interfere with my irregular writing schedule seeing as, well, it’s irregular anyway.
> 
> Also, I’ve started up a Discord! Anyone can join. Essentially, this is where y’all can kick me in the butt to get me writing when I’m being lazy or whatever.
> 
> https://discord.gg/BBt9GB8


	6. Moving Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time keeps going. Eventually, everyone needs to learn to move on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am quite partial to Lance, and may from now on set the reality portions of the fic in his perspective.

Lance was skeptical at first. The new paladin was alright, but she was definitely jumpy. It seemed that every little thing spooked her.

Nevertheless, she was the one Green had chosen, and he trusted the lions’ judgement better than his own.

Her name was Nayo. She was an Olkari student. In fact, she was an apprentice to Reiner herself. The team had been excited to have another genius to rely on, but the girl’s true colors quickly shone through the first time they encountered an alien ship.

“Aaah!” Lance’s screen automatically showed Green’s cockpit, where the girl was cowering behind her chair.

“Nayo?” Allura called. “Is everything alright.”

“ALIENS. THERE’S ALIENS.”

“Nayo…we’re aliens too, you know…” Shiro said, somewhat confused.

“But how do I know if these guys are nice like you?”

“We’re allies with the Galra, Nayo,” Lance chastised. “Just because their ship is purple doesn’t mean they’re our enemy.”

“Oh…right…”

“It just so happens,” Shiro said, his voice softer, “that these guys are actually the people we came out here to meet. They may have information regarding the location of the witch Haggar.”

Nayo squeaked, hiding further behind her seat at the mention of the witch.

Lance sighed. “This is gonna be an interesting process.”

Since then, Nayo had not only warmed up to the team, but had put genuine effort into facing her fears and becoming more confident. And if anyone was a good confidence teacher, it was Lance.

Hunk walked into the lounge to find Lance and Nayo lying on the couches with orange facial masks on.

“Orange? Really?”

Lance sat up, grinning. “It was too hard to see the green with Nayo’s complexion, so we went with orange instead!”

“And how exactly did you manage that?”

“Uh, food coloring. Duh.”

Needless to say, the next few days brought about many laughs.

“I can’t believe you used orange food coloring on a facial mask,” Shiro said, shaking his head. “You should have really thought that through.”

Lance looked in the mirror again. “I mean, it’s not that bad. I already have a dark skin tone.”

“I wasn’t referring to you.”

Nayo’s orange face was definitely…unique. At first she was angry with Lance, but over the time that her face was discolored, she learned to laugh at herself more. In fact, her strange appearance actually boosted her self-esteem.

It wasn’t an easy process, but at least the team was complete again.

\---

Pidge sighed. It was getting harder and harder to push onward. Everything was discouraging. Everything hurt. She was sick of seeing people die, sick of feeling like she was trapped in the biggest cage in the universe.

There was a screen you could access from your menu that displayed the total number of deaths caused by the game and even listed the names. Pidge had long since disregarded it. Even the idea of the list made her sick to her stomach.

She’d been fighting in a war for over a year as a paladin. She’d seen destruction everywhere she went. But she also saw triumph. For every loss there was a victory.

But here?

Here you could only lose.

“Hey, you okay?”

Pidge looked up as Keith put his hand on her shoulder. She blinked a few times. She hadn’t realized she’d been crying.

“Just…thinking.”

“Too much thinking is bad for you.”

“I know, but lately it seems that’s all I ever do.”

He sat on the bed next to her, taking her hand in his. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Keith spoke up again.

“Shyrik sent me a message. He’s checking up on us, wondering how we’re doing. He wants to know if we’ll be joining him on the next raid.”

Pidge shrugged. “Might as well.”

Keith looked down at her, sadness in his eyes. He couldn’t quite place when it was that she broke, but somewhere in the months they’d been trapped a light had gone out. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw her smile.

Unlike Pidge, Keith was used to fighting a losing battle. Those four words could be used to sum up his entire life. He was used to losing everything.

He would do anything to reignite that fire.

“Hey,” he said, smiling. “What if we take a day off?”

Pidge raised an eyebrow. “And do what?”

“Despite how horrible it is that we’re here, this game is incredibly beautiful. A lot of detail was put into the world. Why don’t we go explore it?”

Pidge gave an indignant snort. “What, like a date or something?”

Keith ignored the warmth in his cheeks and chuckled. “If that’s what you want to call it, sure.”

“No.”

Keith was a bit taken aback by her sudden adamant response, though in retrospect, shouldn’t have been all that surprised. “Why not?”

“We have too much to do. We’re paladins. It’s our duty to save the people trapped here.”

“Stop saying that.”

“Saying what?”

“’We’re paladins.’ You seem to have forgotten that I’m not a paladin anymore. And besides, here we’re just the same as everyone else. We aren’t some special heroes anymore. We’re just normal people.”

“Normal people who have been leading the fight against the Galra for over a year! They see leaders in us, Keith!”

“But we aren’t the only leaders! Look at Shyrik. He’s doing a much better job at leading than I ever could. He knows how to take charge and boost morale. Shyrik wasn’t ever a soldier or anything. He was a retail worker.

“Normal people are a lot more than they seem, Pidge, and the opposite applies to us. We may be heroes, but we’re still normal people. And normal people need to take a break every once in a while so they don’t burn out.

“Look at yourself. You’re exhausted. I’m exhausted. We’re falling apart. Just like real bodies, these digital ones need rest. We can’t always be on the front lines.” Keith stood up, reaching a hand out to Pidge. “So please…take some time off with me?”

Pidge looked like she was about to say something, then stopped. “Even if I say no, you’ll just drag me somewhere anyway, won’t you.”

Keith grinned. “You know me so well.”

“Fine. What did you have in mind?”

Keith opened up his menu and navigated his way to his “saved screenshots” section. “Remember this area? We passed by it on our way to a boss room a month ago or so.” Pidge shook her head, looking at the image curiously. “There’s a trailhead leading into that forest. How about we go explore it?”

Pidge groaned. “Outside? I get a day off and you’re making me spend it outside?”

Keith chuckled. “Yes, I am. Come on, you loved the forest on Olkarion. I’m sure this will be just like that.”

\---

It was not just like the forest on Olkarion.

Granted, the Olkari forest was filled with huts, buildings, and technological marvels that definitely don’t occur in nature, but still.

Pidge wasn’t sure how to feel about it all.

The path was narrow, and she ended up walking behind Keith. If there were any spectacular sights ahead of them, they were blocked by Keith’s backside.

Not that she was opposed to that view.

She blinked a few times. Just how long had she been staring?

“You okay?” Keith called over his shoulder. “You’ve been kinda quiet.”

Pidge shook her head. “You know very well that I’m not okay.”

“Hey, at least you’re still here. I was worried you’d run off while I wasn’t looking.”

“It’s not like I could get far. You’d see that I was gone from your mini-map. Since you’re faster than me, it’d only be a matter of time before you caught me.”

They continued in silence for a while longer. Soon enough, the path began to widen, and Pidge was able to walk next to Keith. Squinting, she looked though the trees. “Hey, I think I see a clearing up ahead.”

After walking a few more feet, they pushed through some foliage and stepped out into the clearing.

Pidge squinted, prepared for the onslaught of sunlight, but was taken aback by the shade in the area. The trees seemed to bend into the clearing, creating a canopy overhead. Unlike the surrounding forest, the grass here was neatly cut. It was a deep blue color, which paired well with the dark green leaves. Flowers of species Pidge didn’t recognize formed a circle in the middle, surrounding a long, rectangular stone. The pale colors of the flower bed reminded her of Springtime back home. In fact, with the exception of the color of the grass, the whole area felt…nostalgic.

“Woah…” Keith breathed. Pidge looked up at him. His eyes seemed to sparkle with at the sight. A gentle breeze blew through his hair. Pidge felt her cheeks grow warm and looked away, instead choosing to observe how the same breeze caused a kaleidoscope effect with the shadows cast by the leaves. If there was one word Pidge would use to describe the area:

Magical.

This whole place felt like a small miracle. No, it was more than that. It was exactly what she needed. So perhaps, in that sense, it was the biggest miracle of all.

Tears formed at the edges of her eyes. She made no effort to hold them back, instead choosing to let them fall freely. She took a few tentative steps forward. As she approached the flower bed, the flowers seemed to bend out of her way, leaving her to step on empty grass as she approached the stone. Using the stone as a bench, she sat down, Keith sitting next to her.

Aside from the wind, the clearing was silent. There was no wildlife nearby to create a cacophony of noises. Instead, all seemed to be in harmony. All that was missing was a melody.

It took her a second to realize that the voice was hers. She’d begun singing subconsciously. The words were familiar to her. It was a song she’d heard many times growing up.

If you’d told Katie Holt she was a good singer, she would have brushed the compliment off. Sure, she sang in church choirs and even joined a school choir once, but she’d never had any formal vocal training nor did she spend time practicing to perfect her voice.

Pidge never sang. Nobody on team Voltron had ever heard her singing voice. There was no reason to sing, after all. Keith was caught completely off guard by the angelic voice ringing out next to him.

Read me a memory  
Tell me a tale  
Speak of wonderous adventures  
Together we’ll sail  
Off to forests enchanted  
And lands far away  
Fairies and kings  
And magical rings  
My heart has wings  
When I sit and your knee  
And you read to me.

Keith knew that song. He had to learn it once when his class performed it for a musical assembly back in elementary school. He’d been so eager to impress his dad that he’d written down the words on his hand and up his arm so he could memorize it.

Those words had never left him.

He joined in on the second verse.

Years turn like pages  
Soon I’ll be grown  
Maybe someday I’ll read to  
A child of my own  
Though I may not remember  
The stories we shared  
I always knew  
Through time spent with you  
That you loved me too  
For I sat at your knee  
And you read to me

Pidge looked up at him, curiosity melting into joy as she started into the bridge. To both of their surprise, Keith came in, harmonizing.

Childhood like summer days  
Dews on the grass  
Soon will be yesterdays  
Don’t let it pass

‘til you read me a memory  
Tell me a tale  
Speak of wonderous adventures  
Together we’ll sail  
Off to forests enchanted  
And lands far away  
Fairies and kings  
And magical rings  
My hearts has wings

When I sit at your knee  
And you  
Read  
To me

They sat there for a moment, gazing into each other’s eyes. They both leaned in, and…

*Ding*

The moment was gone.

Keith blinked a few times before backing away and checking his notifications.

Shyrik.

“It was too bad you guys couldn’t be here! The raid went super well! We ended up finding the level boss, if you can believe that! We took it down without a hitch! Just letting you guys know that we unlocked the next level. The first town is called Snowfall. Meet me at the tavern tonight so we can discuss everything in person!”

Pidge had received the same message. She sighed. “I guess we should head back, then. We wouldn’t want to keep him waiting, after all.”

Sadness crossed Keith’s face, but he shook it off. “Yeah, you’re right. We should get going.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so mean sometimes. But hey, I can’t progress things too quickly, now can I?
> 
> I need to make one thing clear: just because the series is ending doesn’t mean I’m going to stop writing. That being said, we aren’t too far from the end (I think…I’ve never been in the habit of planning ahead) so look forward to it!
> 
> AND I KNOW I SUCK FOR TAKING THIS LONG TO UPDATE I KEEP SAYING I’LL BE BETTER AND I DON’T AND I’M SORRY.
> 
> Anyway, how do you guys feel about the song? I don’t know how well-known it is. It’s one of my favorites from my childhood. It’s called “Read Me a Memory” if you’re curious and want to look it up.
> 
> I’ve always loved the idea of Keith being able to sing, as you can tell from “If I Could Tell Her.” Learning to sing so he could impress his dad just felt right.
> 
> Thank you all for being patient! I look forward to seeing you for the next chapter!


	7. Let It Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge's magic has been advancing nicely. When she gets a clue of how to progress further, she's thrilled. However, she's met with an interesting surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I mentioned in Once Upon a Dream, I’m going to try to branch out a bit so I can get popularity from other fandoms on account of Voltron’s end. However, I will not stop Full Dive and am determined to finish it.
> 
> I don’t know if you noticed, but I actually have the remaining chapters planned out. They’re not written, but I at least know how many I have left. So, woo! You have something to look forward to. I feel like knowing exactly when I’m going to stop is a good sign that I’m going to finish.

Keith wondered why Pidge was so calm. In his opinion, it was absolutely freezing, even with the fur coat he bought. But Pidge was in little more than a light sweater and looked fine. He envied her cold tolerance.

Keith was a desert person. He knew mostly heat. Yeah, the nights got pretty cool, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle.

He’d never seen snow before in his life. Now he found himself surrounded by the stuff. Sure, it was pretty, but did it have to be so freaking cold?

“You look like a popsicle,” Pidge said, looking up at him. She wasn’t even shivering.

“Let’s just hurry and get to that tavern. I hope they have a fire going.”

Pidge looked at her map. “We’re almost there. Should be just around the corner up here.”

Finally finding their destination, Keith practically fell into a seat near the fire crackling in a brick fireplace in the corner.

“Greetings, traveler,” the woman at the counter said as Pidge approached. “What can I do for you today?”

The menu appeared in front of Pidge, where she could scroll through it. “We’ll take two legs of roasted humpnar and two mugs of hot slog.”

A prompt popped up asking to confirm the amount of money being transferred. Pidge hit the check mark and immediately her food appeared on a tray in front of her. “Enjoy,” the npc said, smiling and waving at her. Pidge smirked when she saw Keith standing in front of the fire, evidently trying to warm up his backside.

The tavern seemed to be fairly large when compared to the rest of the town. There were a few players here and there, but otherwise there were plenty of empty tables. However, she wasn’t looking for an empty one. She was trying to find…

“Paladin Pidge! Over here!” Pidge turned and saw Shyrik waving her down from his table against the wall.

“Keith, come on, I have your food.”

He groaned and looked longingly at the fire before making his way over to the table.

Shyrik’s excitement was clearly visible on his face. “I have some interesting news, friends.” He pulled open a few documents and screenshots, sending them to Pidge to let her scroll through them.

Pidge’s eyes widened, causing Keith to raise and eyebrow and lean over to look at her display, a bite of humpnar leg in his mouth. “What?” he said, bits of meat flying everywhere and disappearing as “dead” entities.

“Shyrik, could this really…?”

He was nodding frantically. “Yes. Experienced gamers have come together and discussed the state of the world as it stands. Quests have gotten incredibly difficult. The level maps are getting smaller. And completing the mysterious Trial Quests that were unlocked about a week ago has yielded some strange clues. The experts among us have deliberated and concluded that we are indeed reaching the end of the game.”

Keith’s jaw went slack. “After six months…six months of fighting…it’s…we’re…”

Shyrik nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! After all this time, we may finally be able to go home!”

Pidge looked skeptical. “Hang on. If there’s anything I know about video games, it’s that the final fight is always incredibly challenging. We can’t just rush headlong into this. We’re going to need to gather everyone who is willing to fight and make sure they know not only the risks, but that they need to be spending the coming weeks getting as strong as they possibly can.

“Every boss is slightly easier if you’ve taken the time to grind for weapons and experience first. I know it’ll put a delay on any plans to attack, but if this is the end, then we will want to lose as few people as possible.”

Shyrik nodded in understanding. “I get it. You want us to be stronger so we can protect each other and win together. I’ll work on letting guild leaders know what to do and see how many allies I can gather. You two, you’ll be like a beacon of hope to the remaining players. You must be ready to take a stand and fight with your all.”

Shyrik opened his menu and pulled up a screenshot and sent it to Pidge. “Somebody found a clue to something that may interest you specifically, Pidge.”

Opening the file, Pidge scanned the image closely. It was a screenshot of somebody’s quest completion screen, stopped in a specific section.

“Trial Quest secret clue: The final element can be found only by one who has mastered the others and is prepared to trek deep into Avalanche Gorge,” she read aloud. “Final element? But I already have all six spells: fire, water, wind, ground, gravity, and lightning. Is there some secret spell I don’t know about?”

Shyrik shrugged. “It seems likely. Until today, we had no idea what Avalanche Gorge was. However, with this new section of the game unlocked, it seems likely that it’s connected to this snowy world. It seems worth exploring, if you ask me.

“And as for you, Keith, I found something myself that may be of interest to you. I haven’t told anyone else about this. Unfortunately, this information is of no use to me since my weapon of choice is the claymore.”

Keith got a pop-up of his own. He saw a screenshot of a carving in what appeared to be the crumbling wall of an ancient ruin. He attempted to read it aloud, but Shyrik silenced him. “This information is for your eyes alone, Keith. If anyone overhears, you might not get what you’re looking for.”

Keith nodded, confused but understanding. The message read: “Let the dragons guide you to their greatest treasure of all, the greatest sword said to be capable of felling ten dragons in one strike. It is their most guarded and most powerful prize.” An image of what appeared to be a broadsword was carved below the text, with two dragons sitting on either side of it.

“Shyrik, I—”

“No need to thank me. As I said, I have no use for the weapon myself, nor do I have a death wish. But you? You have a natural skill with the sword and may be the greatest swordsman among us. If anyone can retrieve it, it’s you.

“I hope you two find what you’re looking for. In the meantime, I have ways to build up my own strength, and I will spread the word of the plan. Luck be with the two of you.”

“You too, Shyrik,” Pidge said, standing. She shook his hand, Keith following suit.

Pidge looked at Keith, a determined fire in her eyes. Yes, there it was. There was the spark that had been missing. “Let’s save the world.”

\---

After stopping by a shop and stocking up on supplies, Pidge set off towards the east, where a mountain range lay. It was difficult to see through the gales of falling snow, but if she looked hard enough, she could see the outline of the mountains.

“’Avalanche Gorge.’ If I’m gonna find it anywhere, it’d be over there.”

The grinding she and Keith had done during their time in Fantasy Quest had yielded a plentiful supply of money. So, in order to make her journey faster, Pidge stopped by a stable and rented a riding animal called a Kartor. It reminded Pidge of a yak in some ways, with its long hair and four hooved legs. However, that was where the similarities ended. It had two heads and long necks, almost like a llama. It had three fluffy tails that were long enough to drag on the ground behind it.

Its hooves, while definitely familiar, were much larger than those of a yak. Or, rather, flatter. Pidge could see why these beasts were a mode of transport across snowy terrain; the flat feet likely made it easier for the creatures to walk on top of the snow instead of plowing through it.

Pidge wished that her glasses had carried over into the game. The wind pelted at her face as she sped across the frozen valley. She huddled into her coat, leaving only her eyes exposed so she could see where she was going. She had no idea how long it had been since her nose went numb. She’d been squinting for so long it felt strange to open her eyes all the way again, when her Kartor slowed to a stop.

The snowfall was much denser here than it had been in town. As soon as she slid off of the Kartor to get her bearings, she immediately fell through the snow, easily over six feet deep. The Kartor looked down at her from above, making a strange cry that sounded like surprise before reaching in and grabbing Pidge by the collar and pulling her out, laying her across the snow so her weight was spread out, preventing her from sinking again.

Pidge stared up at the sky. Flakes of snow fell on her face as she contemplated what she would do next.

She’d reached the mountain range. That was the easy part. However, she still had to find this “Avalanche Gorge” place. She couldn’t see the sun, but the world for the most part appeared to be getting darker. A quick glance at her clock confirmed that she was running out of daylight and that she should figure out the best way to get out of the storm and rest.

Her best bet would be a cave, but she wasn’t sure what the best way to find one would be. The Kartor looked down at her with one of its heads, its breath leaving puffs of steam. She returned its curious gaze for a moment before grabbing onto its reins and pulling herself back into the saddle.

“Keep going,” she instructed. The creature obediently pressed onward, seemingly unphased by the pelting winds. It walked along the mountain’s base for a while before coming upon a passage between the current mountain and the next. Pidge urged it onward up the pass, figuring that was her best bet at finding shelter.

Pidge jumped as she heard a beep. She looked around her display before grunting in pain. Looking up at her health bar, a small box with a snowflake symbol sat next to it. “Great,” she muttered. “Frostbite.” She would have used fire magic to keep warm, but wasn’t sure if the Kartor would be afraid or not, and she’d rather not risk losing her ride back. She wrapped her coat more tightly around herself, looking more frantically for a cave where she could warm up before the frostbite drained her health completely.

The Kartor suddenly stopped, letting out a strange cry before turning one of its heads around to look at Pidge. She groaned. “What now?”

The second head stretched up to Pidge’s right, its eyes fixated on something. Pidge turned and sighed in relief as she spotted a cave. Looking ahead, it was a good thing they’d found one, because their passage ended at a cliff face.

“I’m not making the same mistake I made last time,” she muttered. She cast a gravity spell at her feet, decreasing the pressure she’d be putting on the snow. “And here I thought that spell was useless.” Grabbing the reigns, she led the Kartor carefully up the slope until she reached the cave. Once they were out of the storm, the Kartor folded its legs under its hairy body and lay down, wrapping its heads around as it got some sleep. Pidge patted its back fondly. “Get some rest. You’ve earned it.”

She stepped outside briefly to gather as much firewood as she could. Casting a quick water spell to dry out the branches, she started a fire. She downed a potion, curing the frostbite, before wrapping up in her coat and lying on the ground. “Looks like I’m gonna be here for a while. Might as well get comfortable.”

When she woke up again, it was well past dark. Her fire still crackled due to its magical properties, but the Kartor was gone. She raised an eyebrow curiously, wondering where a big hairy beast could have possibly wandered off to in the middle of the night when she heard a familiar call coming from deeper in the cave. She groaned. “Might as well go see what’s up.”

Carrying a bit of fire in her hand, Pidge set off through the cave. She gasped as the ground suddenly shook. She barely kept her balance, nearly burning herself in the process. That’s the thing about magic. It’s a wonderful power, but if you’re reckless, you could get burned.

Pidge looked around, assessing the damage. A few stalactites had fallen in the quake, but beyond that the cave’s structure hadn’t changed. Only now, she noticed a faint breeze coming from ahead of her. She raised an eyebrow. “I can’t be to the other side of the mountain yet,” she muttered, taking a few tentative steps forward. “Then again, I haven’t been walking in a straight line. Maybe the tunnel doubled back.”

She quickened her pace as the Kartor cried again, this time seemingly in distress. “Alright, buddy, I’m coming.” As she rounded a bend, she found herself squinting at the sudden light and cold wind that streamed through an opening. There the Kartor sat. It weakly lifted one of its heads as Pidge approached. “Oh no, what happened to you, buddy?”

The Kartor wailed in reply, shifting so Pidge could see the giant gash in its side. She knelt down next to it, opening her inventory and pulling out her med kit. “Let’s see if I can get you patched up.” As she set to work treating the wound, the second head lifted off of the ground and began nipping at Pidge’s coat.

“What, are you part goat or something? Don’t eat my clothes,” she said, pulling away. The Kartor reached out again, this time gripping harder and pulling at Pidge’s arm. “Hey, cut it out, I’m trying to help you!” The Kartor cried out one final time as Pidge finished dressing the wound. The ground shook again. Pidge gasped as she realized that she was no longer on solid ground. She watched helplessly as she fell, the Kartor looking down over the edge.

The cliff face was smooth and icy, almost like a slide. The drop wasn’t totally sheer, and Pidge found herself sliding down. She plowed directly into the snow…and kept going. The velocity she’d attained during her fall was enough to send her through what must have been at least ten feet of snow. Pidge’s jaw dropped at the sight around her.

Underneath the layer of snow was an icy cavern. Glowing crystals blanketed the area in a blue aura. Pidge wondered why it was so warm when she realized that the snow ceiling must be trapping the heat in, like an igloo. As her ice slide came to a horizontal and she slowed to a stop, Pidge realized that the crystals were most likely made of ice. Various ice formations decorated the cavern.

“The quakes, the falling rocks, the ice…this has to be it.” She said to herself. “This is Avalanche Gorge.”

“Avalanche Gorge, you say? Well, you’re under it, that’s for certain!”

Pidge jumped in surprise before turning around to see a figure with pale blue skin, a long gray beard, and two pink horns. Beyond that, he was fairly humanoid, having two arms and two legs. He wore a royal blue robe decorated with stars, complete with pointed wizard hat. He was beaming.

“Why, it’s been centuries since I’ve had company! Please, young lady, come this way!”

Pidge noted that the pattern she’d seen so far had continued. The lighting wizard had yellow skin, the gravity wizard had a deep violet skin tone, the water wizard had dark blue skin, and so on. This was the most humanoid one she’d seen so far. Aside from his blue skin and horns, she could have easily mistaken him for a human.

“What’s your name, miss?”

Pidge snapped out of her reverie and looked up at the wizard, who was holding out a hand to help her up. She took it gratefully. “My name is Pidge.”

“Well, Pidge, you must be something special if you found this place. What have you come here to seek?”

“I come seeking knowledge,” she responded, and the wizard’s eyes lit up with glee again.

“Well, you’ve certainly come to the wrong place for that! The only thing I could ever teach you is ice magic, and you can’t even use it unless you’ve learned the other six magics!” He let out a hearty laugh, and Pidge couldn’t help but smile at his glee. “If you’d like, I can treat you to a hot drink. You look like you’re frozen solid!”

Pidge chuckled. “Thank you. But, I’ve actually learned the other six.”

“To the kitchen, then!”

Pidge blinked. “…what?”

“To get that drink! I did say that you were frozen!” With a skip in his step, the old wizard turned and walked into the cavern.

“Maybe I didn’t use a command he recognized,” Pidge pondered as she followed him.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, just talking to myself.”

“In another situation I might call you a fool for such an action but seeing as I’ve been alone for three hundred years, I can’t really blame you!” He laughed again, his laughter echoing throughout the chamber.

They reached the kitchen and Pidge was immediately struck by a familiar smell. “Hey, that’s…that’s wasil. Hot wasil.”

“You recognize it! Yes, it does have quite the distinct smell, but do you know how hard it is to get decent cloves out here? I thought the cinnamon would be the tricky part but finding an equivalent to cloves was a nightmare!” He laughed again. Pidge looked up at his face, realizing for the first time that he’d been smiling since she got there.

“Now then! Since you are already familiar with the drink, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you not to swallow the cloves?”

“No, sir,” she responded, taking the mug offered to her.

“Excellent. Go on, try it.” Pidge took a sip and was instantly filled with both warmth and a stabbing sense of nostalgia.

“It reminds me of home.”

“And where might home be, young lady?”

“Earth. It’s a little planet in the Milky Way Galaxy that’s mostly covered in water.”

“Aha, I knew it! Nobody outside of Earth would know what wasil is, because as you know wasil is made with apple cider, and as far as I know, you can only find apples on Earth!”

Pidge blinked again. This npc seemed to be equipped with more knowledge than any others she had met so far. Then again, she figured that the guardian of the most hidden and likely most powerful form of magic would have been programmed with a higher intelligence. Maybe he had access to the cardinal system, or at the very least some vast information database.

“Sir,” Pidge tried again. “I have learned the six basic elements.”

“Now, now, young lady, you never pressure an old man. Finish your drink before asking for anything else, or I’ll start to feel like a bad host!” He laughed again, and Pidge could have sworn this time that she’d heard that laugh somewhere before.

Once she finished her drink, she examined the mug in her hands. She almost jumped in surprise when she realized it was made entirely of ice, ice that hadn’t melted while the hot drink was inside of it.

“The ice here is incredible. It doesn’t seem to melt, and it seems it can glow too.”

“In a sense. Ice on its own is like any normal water-based ice. It’ll melt if it gets too warm and is really just frozen water. However, it’s not what you create, but what you believe that makes it special.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

He let out another chuckle. “Perhaps it is a bit confusing. Let me try it like this. ‘There are a million things one might do with a block of wood. But what do you think might happen if someone, just once, believed in it?’ An object can be far more than what it seems, but you have to believe that it can be something spectacular. For instance, I could make a cup out of ice, but it would most assuredly melt the second I put a hot drink in it. But because I believed that the cup couldn’t melt when I made it, it won’t, because I believed in it.

“I understand your type. You’re the kind of girl that understands through concrete proof, solid evidence. I’m sure learning magic hasn’t been an easy thing for you, and I commend you on the efforts you have made to get this far. But accepting and believing are two very different things. Up until now, you’ve accepted that magic exists and have made use of it. But now you have to believe in the magic itself.

“Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.”

At this point Pidge was getting somewhat frustrated. “Sir, I mean no disrespect, but I came a long way to learn ice magic today.”

The old man looked at her for a moment, his smile flickering briefly, before returning with vigor. He turned away from her for a moment, then turned back, lobbing a snowball directly into her face.

“Hey! What was tha—”

Another snowball.

Pidge realized that he was just forming them in his hands from nothing. Finally, he formed another ball and threw it at her, but just before making contact with her face, it stopped and exploded into tiny sparkling ice shards that drifted gently to the floor.

The wizard was chuckling again, both of his hands on his belly as he shook with glee. “See that, girl? It didn’t hit you, because I didn’t want it to! I believed that it would pop and it did!”

“This is the beauty of not just ice magic, but all magics. Once you start to believe, you can feel that every object has life. Every spell has a mind. And if you pour every ounce of your belief in what that can do, you may be surprised what a little snowball might accomplish.”

“I cannot instruct you any further. It is up to you to take the next steps on your own. It will be a difficult journey for you to make, you especially, Katie. But I know that when you need it, you’ll figure it out.”

“How did you know my—”

“Ah ha, if I told you, the wonder would be gone. But I think you already know the answer to that one, you’re just not quite getting there.”

Wind started blowing into the kitchen, glistening ice swirling in a vortex around the wizard. “I am out of time here. Many people to see, you know. But I believe in you.”

Pidge started to panic. “Wait! How am I supposed to learn without a teacher?”

“You’re a smart girl, Katie. You’ve learned things on your own before. It’s one of the things you’re best at. But I suppose I can give you a hint.”

The wizard leaned closer to her and whispered quietly, “Believe in yourself.” Then, stepping back, he pressed the side of his nose and seemed to be carried up through a ventilation shaft in the ceiling, laughing. Pidge could have sword she heard sleigh bells.

Thinking back, Pidge would notice that the jolly happy wizard didn’t have an npc tag.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that’s the closest I’m getting to a Christmas special. So, I actually started this chapter during the family reunion like I mentioned, but then things got crazier and crazier, and before I knew it, I was back in my university classes.
> 
> Like I tend to do, I slipped a couple of references in here. Props to you if you can spot them all!
> 
> I want to make one quick thing clear. I’m not a free writer. If you want me to write something for you because you admire my talent, we might discuss a payment system. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t charge a lot, but I’m not going to write something for free, especially if your ideas are difficult for me to put together.
> 
> On that same note, if you request for me to write a fanfic that involves your OC interacting with the main cast of any show, I will not post it publicly. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that it would really only be interesting to you, the creator of the OC. Nobody else would care. It’s a harsh truth, but it needs to be said given the number of such requests I’ve gotten.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I know that SAO is either loved or it’s hated. If you’re one of those people that hate SAO, don’t go complain in the comments about how I’m ruining Voltron by crossing over. Or should I say CROSSING FIELD? HAHAHAH no? Okay…
> 
> (Crossing Field is the name of the opening theme song of SAO)
> 
> But in all seriousness, this isn't a crossover, since it doesn't take place in Aincrad and the characters don't exist here. While the game is similar, it will have its differences. Overall, I'm drawing a lot of inspiration from SAO, but I won't plagiarize it (or at least I'll try not to).


End file.
